


Separation Anxiety

by ALiteraryLady



Series: The Dodds family dynamic (an exploration of family in the 21st century) [4]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst galore, Dodds family dynamic, F/M, Flashbacks, Rekindling romance, Romantic Moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 12:13:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7532311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALiteraryLady/pseuds/ALiteraryLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the fourth installment of the Dodds Family Dynamic, this story finally explores a bit of what happened between William Dodds and his wife, Sharon. They go up and down but yet cannot be separated</p>
            </blockquote>





	Separation Anxiety

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Please feel free to read over this Fic and let me know what you think. All comments and feedback are welcome as long as they are respectful.
> 
> Also feel free to follow me on tumblr: ladyzootie

 

The stiffness in his lower back reminded the Chief about a nagging suspicion he had for the last few hours—there would never be a couch as luxurious as his California King pillow top mattress. A moment of confusion stopped his revelation.

_Where am I?_

His body blasted his neurons with biofeedback reports and he took stock of his person; the dull constant throbbing in his head, his dry mouth, and the stiffness in his lower back and left knee.

“How much did I drink last night-”he rambled out as his inquiry was answered by his eldest son.

“At least enough to completely insult my dog-son’s mother.” Mike flatly stated as the Chief wiped both drool and eye crusts off of his face. It was brightly lit in his son’s apartment and the morning light stung his eyes. He saw Mike standing before him in jeans and t-shirt with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Wha?” the Chief’s confusion mounting as he heard Winnie growl for a moment. Bits of his drunken musings replayed in his mind.

 

_“Winnie, come here to—is it grandpa?”_

_“I’m never going to get actual grandkids from-”_

 

Mike handed him his jacket and the Chief took it.

“Here. Please leave, I called in an old favor. A retired cop is going to drive you home.”

“Oh Mike—ow, please let me just rest a bit longer, my knee is killing me have you two thought about getting a better couch?” he pleaded as he glanced down at Winnie, who was restraining another growl, but bits of it would snarl out of the young pup’s mouth.

“Winnie, calm down boy.” Mike ordered as Winnie began to huff through his stout nose.

_At least he gets ticked off like Mike and Quin._ The Chief thought as Mike gently helped him stand up. He felt woozy on his feet and closed his eyes a moment to recenter himself.

“Alright, alright, alright, I’m going but...what I said about you and her--” the Chief softened his tone but Mike simply rolled his eyes.

“You finally had the liquid courage to do it and we got the message loud and clear, I-”

He saw his son catch himself to contain his rage as the Chief shook off his arm.

“Mike all I ask is that you think it over all of this-”

“Like we haven’t already?!” Mike shot out, his arms spreading open, “I had to spend last night assuring the love of my life that I wasn’t—look you don’t care and we both think you need some time to really think over what you want from us and this family.”

The Chief combed his hair with his hands, pulling out a few gray strands and shaking them off.

“Mike, I want-”

Mike held up his hand, “I don’t care right now what you want! I told Quin you’d be gone by the time she gets back from her morning run.” he walked over to the front door and opened it.

“Mikey, c’mon you know I’m-” the Chief stopped as his heart beat grew stronger, faster. In his mind he saw Sharon twirling around in the garden, her joy and glee mocking him.

“Dad.” Mike pushed, “Now.”

The Chief straightened his jacket as he walked out of Mike’s apartment. Before dragging his feet towards the elevator, he felt a twinge of remorse wash his consciousness.

“I’m, I’m sorry Mikey.” he apologized as Winnie walked over towards Mike, his brown puppy eyes judging him.

Mike sighed as he picked up Winnie, “I’m sure you think you are dad. Bye.”

The door closed before him and his mind went to the moment he had messed up.

 

_It was a cold day in the fall, mid 1970’s. He could feel the weight of Mike in his arms as he ran over to the border. Fog obscured his view of her, but upon seeing her hair hidden underneath an orange bandana he knew his wife was in the protest crowd._

_“C’mon Sharon! You’re overreacting!” he heard his younger, sharper voice bark at Sharon who was holding a protest sign. She had bolted off to yet another protest rally and left him high and dry with their three year old son._

_She pushed back her locks and squared her face._

_“If the government is going to condone the systematic slaughter of people, I guess I’m in the wrong, caring about their innocent lives!”_

_“Mommy...” Mike whined as the chief switched him from one hip to the other and continued to follow her along the border._

_“Sharon can’t you do a letter writing campaign? Who is gonna watch Mike?!”_

_Her hazel eyes lit up with a seething anger._

_“Perhaps his father for a damn change?!”_

_He felt his body flush as several feminists cheered Sharon on, their angry breaths taking on the shape of white, hot, vaporous clouds projecting from their mouths._

_“Sharon, you are being ridic--”_

_She dropped her sign as she cut him off._

_“I am being an active woman instead of a passive one! Mikey, sweetie,” she leaned over the protest barrier and cupped their son’s face, “you be good for your patriarchal father-”_

_A foghorn went off and she picked up her sign, “I’ve gotta go. See you at home Will.”_

 

_Was I really that much of an ass?_ He mused as the elevator took him down to the ground floor and he got out of it. His hand shook and his breath was getting shorter. The idea of not leaving on good terms with his family nipped on his psyche. He sat down on a bench in the lobby and held his head in his hands. Every breath felt like it was a battle to take in and he saw Sharon’s form in his mind. She was pushing clothes into a beat up knack sack.

 

_“Oh here we go again, Sharon Dodds the escapist!” he shouted as she threw on a couple of parkas and blew her hair out of her face, her hazel eyes wide with contempt for him._

_“Oh screw you, you’re suffocating! I don’t get to have my own life because if it doesn’t fit into the confines of yours, it’s meaningless!”_

_He looked up at the ceiling and loudly groaned._

_“Asking you not to go to India, yet again isn’t me suffocating you Sharon! You signed up for motherhood, I recall the evening quite vividly in the Cadillac as—ugh!”_

_Her hand smacked his face with no force withheld. He knew he’d have a mark a short while._

_“Your mother will watch them, wouldn’t want to take you away from your work, your passion!” she sniped as the knapsack’s strap rested on her shoulder and she stormed past him, slamming the bedroom door in his face._

_“How long are you gonna be gone?!” he blurted out._

_She turned on heels and faced him, her cork soled sandals squeaking, “Until India knows real love and I know real inner peace!”_

_His hands went to his hips, “So, never then?” he snarled as her eyes grew sad, pregnant with tears._

_“That sounds...perfect, William.”_

 

A hand on his shoulder jerked him from his memory.

“Chief Dodds?” the tall muscular man asked as Will swallowed some of his own saliva to coat his mouth.

“Yes...my son sent you?”

Only a simple and slight nod came from the elder man as he took a bottle of water out of his pocket and handed it to him. His hands were twitching; his heart rate rising.

_Why did I let her go?_ He questioned himself as he felt the officer help him exit the lobby and get into the side of his car.

“I’m gonna do right by your son, Will. I’ll get you home.”

Will sat in the seat, his hands hadn’t been this clammy since he had asked Sharon out.

 

_He saw her her in the school cafeteria, sitting with the hippies and stoners the next table over. Her_ _thick_ _brown hair was laden with daises and marigolds her friends had woven into_ _it_ _during biology class. Sharon Steudimaker was so pretty it hurt his stomach to look at her for too long, he could only sneak glimpses of her beauty before his body became distraught from it._

_“So you gonna ask flower power out or what, Dodds? I have five bucks riding on you getting in her...you know…!” his friend whispered as he pushed Will into the table she was eating at and he spilled his milk all over her protest fliers._

_“Man, look at the piggy ruining our good time!” one of the stoners, a lanky blonde twig shrieked as Will saw her try to wipe the milk off of them with her hands._

_“No, now I have to redo these!” she cried as she looked Will up and down. In that moment he recalled he was wearing his stoic, military inspired clothing his father assured him would make people take him seriously. His stomach began to churn as the others continued harassing him._

_“Yeah piggy, why don’t you go and find your broodmare and pop out two point five kids, hey maybe if you both like America so much you’ll get to pull out a white pickett fence too—ow!” one of the other stoners cried out as Will saw her hands retreat back to her side. She stood up and tilted her head up at him._

_“Well, what will your reparations for damaging my fliers be, Will?” she asked as her voice remained level and soft._

_He could still feel how clammy his hands were, the way his voice cracked when he had spoken up._

_“Um...I’ll help you remake them...today, after school...yeah...”_

_She let out a victorious, ‘harmph’, “Okay then, it’s a date, William Dodds.” she winked at him, “C’mon guys, the college kids are having a drum circle in the quad!”_

_He stood frozen in place; he let a shy smile cross his face as he watched her and her friends walk past him._

 

“Chief. Chief?”

The officer’s voice burst his memory as the car stopped outside of his place. His chest felt like it was going to explode. Heading back up to his place felt like it was going to incinerate him, but the nausea in his stomach demanded attention.

“Yeah, thanks.” the Chief managed to answer as he got himself out of the car. He stood upright and slowly made his way inside. In his hand his keys jangled as he walked up the two flights of stairs and opened his apartment door.

It was empty.

His heart rate shot up as he collapsed on his sofa, letting the soft micro fibers cradle his skin.

A sigh fled his mouth as he saw Sharon once more but they were happy and together. She had never left and both their lives were woven together.

She had no reason to leave because he was perfect.

 

 

 

 

Her nose was hit with the smell of chicory as the couch’s scratchy material rubbed against her face. Sharon brushed a chunk of her hair out of her face as her eyes opened and adjusted to the light in the living room. Upon seeing the moody shades of blue, grey and black, Sharon’s mind rang with insight as she knew where she was.

_I’m at John’s._

She slowly got up and felt her back stretch as  the  muscles popped.

_I must have come here after last night-_

She paused her internal monologue as her memory took the fragmented pieces of yesterday and laid them in sequence; Will had been charming, his arm slipping around her waist and gently shooing her away from Sue. His blue eyes, even after multiple decades made her heartbeat quicken upon seeing them. Her feet tingled with the sensations of grass beneath them- her heart leaping with joy as she danced in the grass. She was happy, content, until Will’s voice shattered the moment.

 

_I’m always cleaning up your messes!_

 

Her face contorted into a scowl and she heard a door open.

“I’d be that pissed off if my last name was Dodds, too.” Munch got out with a cheeky grin on his face as he took a sip of coffee. Sharon glanced at him; he was still as slim as ever. Always able to eat an entire commune’s worth of food and never gain a pound. Her old love was clad in a pair of jeans and a half zip sweater- far different that his ‘man in black’ attire she had giggled upon seeing him in for the first time years ago.

“How did I get here? Did we-?”

Munch’s head shook as he moved towards her and sat down on his recliner. Sharon took a speedy inventory of her person. She was fully clothed minus her sandals and her heart sank a bit. Even a drunken romp with a romantic genius like John Munch would have been welcomed.

_SVU has changed you._

“Coffee?” Munch proposed as Sharon attempted to make herself presentable to him.

“No...no I’m fine...just a bit surprised I was on the couch...” she smiled as Munch chuckled.

“Sharon, you went on about how much you cared for Will and you were drunk. You couldn’t consent.”

Sharon swallowed and Munch stood up. He made his way towards the kitchen to grab her a glass of water.

“So I take it SVU stifled your heart chakra a bit?” she mused as she studied him walking back towards her with a glass in hand.

“Hardly, rape does though...” he countered as Sharon knew he was taking in the bit of sadness in her eyes. She took the glass of water from him and cradled it.

“Thanks.”

“Sharon, we had one night together thirty four years ago...that’s in the past. Besides, someone else is in my life--”

“So older women are out then?” she pouted as Munch rolled his eyes.

“Sharon, I will always recall that night, I assure you bit I also recalled the morning after and the weeks of nervous phone calls, and then Matt was conceived, with you and Will...” his eyes danced over his glasses as she took a sip.

“God could you image another Munch out there...the world wouldn’t know what to do with two of you, let alone me.” she teased back as she nursed the water.

“Exactly, I’m glad I’ll die as a solo act, in a way...so care to elaborate on what brought you hammered out of your mind to my humble abode at eleven thirty last night?”

In her head the images and sounds tumbled about as Sharon felt like she couldn’t make sense of them, yet her consciousness was able to muster the strength to pluck a moment and tape it down, holding it still.

“I went to Matty’s chip ceremony—oh it was so nice and he was so shy. This gal there, Sue Langston she was just a treat so I missed the hint that Matt wanted to chat with her alone and Will comes over and ropes and arm around me.” she saw Munch’s eyebrows raise

“I see the good Chief is attempting to rekindle a romance.” he sasses as Sharon drank some more water.

“I don’t know but anyways we go to the garden and I get in there and I just wanna dance to celebrate Matty’s victory and possible romantic aspirations and Will just harshes my vibe, like a c h unk of ice on a cutting board—boom, boom, boom!” her hands flew up in the air.

“I take it the good Chief was not into heart dancing?” Munch teased as Sharon crossed her arms and continued.

“No, I suddenly then recall why I kept leaving- he never opened up, lived a little you know?! And he never really once trusted me!” she moaned.

“Classic guilt trip?”

She nodded, “Ugh I went around the world twice; I was a bad mother to Matt and Mike, I’m the reason why Matt is in rehab, it’s my fault that Mike is so uptight—on and freakin’ on!” She bolted up from the couch and Munch looked up at her.

“So you two fought and then...bar?” Munch nudged her with his question.

“I guess, I was so irate I just stormed off—called him a bastard and I just wanted to forget it...” her lip trembled as Munch stood up and held her hand as she sucked on her teeth, “...and forget him.”

“Sharon” Munch looked at her, “What do you want with him?”

Sharon jerked her hand away from Munch, “I want him to stay away; every time I see him it’s like we clash against each other, two instruments making conflicting, opposing noises but there’s no escaping him.

“Seriously? You’re here and while I am off the table as a romantic option, technically by not waking up next to him you have...escaped?”

Sharon felt the playful energy behind his statement and let out a sigh.

“That’s not what I mean John, I mean the entrapment is metaphysical and the way he clings to this ideal of who I could be instead of who I am, I don’t like it...ever since high school he’s been this way.”

The dim memory sparked to life in her mind- she could smell the marigolds her friends had woven into her hair, the weight of the fliers in her hand and her bottom resting on the wooden bench that kept her in place as she felt those icy blue eyes on her body. It was the looks her feminist sisters decried as sexist- any man who made them was devouring her innate beauty with disregard to her permission on the matter.

 

_How dare--!_

_The thought mowed over as she saw the milk drench her hard work._

_“Now I have to redo these!” she wailed as her own eyes bloomed with anger and mourning. She caught sight of him and she didn’t innately feel violated. It was a new emotion that captured her attention._

_But what was it?_

 

“Sharon, you there?” Munch’s soft question lobed against her consciousness.

Her head tossed away the memory

_Good riddance._

She lied to herself, “I’m fine...I know what it is.” she stated as she watched Munch’s ears twitch for her answer.

“If I hide away, I’ll never have to feel those clammy, nervous hands. I’ll be liberated from his accusations….I’ll stow away and let work consume him...it’s worked so many times before.” she registered Munch’s hand on her shoulder.

“Stow away, but perhaps in your own estate?” he gently offered up as she saw the request in his eyes.

“I should get home, I sense you have things to do, thanks John.” Her hand rested on his and an easy energy stood between them.

“Let me know when you get home, Okay? I may not want a romance but I’ve always enjoyed the esoteric kinship.” Munch revealed as Sharon nodded her head.

“I will...but where are my sand--”

“-By the door.”

She permitted a tense laugh to cover up her budding anxiety. The real world wanted its pound of flesh and her skin crawled at the thought.

_You have to leave, Sharon…_

Her feet reluctantly pulled her body towards her sandals and she slipped them on.

“Call if you need to talk, okay?” Sharon’s bravado echoed in her comment at him.

A smile came to his thin lips, “Who else will listen to me?”

“True.” she collected herself and stepped out of his apartment. The turning of the lock was like a prison gate clanking shut behind her. This anxiety wasn’t from Munch, but rather for Will. Will made her flee and sank bits of his selfish need into her mind, droplets breaking in the bucket of her heart.

_What now?_

She took several cautious steps, each one bringing her closer to home.

_How long until you need me again, Will?_

 

 

He stared at the screen of his phone. Even without the Map app he knew he was in the right place.

His bones knew.

Will scanned over her apartment window as his anxiety vibrated though him, inside out.

_One look, I can take it._ He soothed himself,  _Just one look and I’ll get up there, eventually and I’ll work this out...I’ll try._

Sleep was scarcer than she had been. Even after several days of sleepless nights he wasn’t cross with Sharon, but with himself.

“Why did I let you go?” he spoke to the crowded sidewalk as a heavyset man answered.

“She cost too much?”

“Screw you!” Will huffed at the man.

The anxiety nibbled at him even while on the job. In all there years of separation the dull pulse of worry never interfered with work. It was his duty to provide, to serve and now that he was alone, the anxiety raised up and tugged on the coattails of his awareness.

_You have to feel me now…_ it spoke as he heard Sharon respond to it in his mind.

_“Will, do you need us?”_

_I do miss you, I do need you--_

His hand went to his pocket and fished out his phone. With a swipe of his thumb on the screen he answered the call.

“Dodds where the hell are you?!” his boss boomed at him.

“S-sir, sorry last minute stu-”

“-stop lying, there was a two pm com-stat report hearing, where were you?!”

_Is this how I sound to her, to the boys? Hell, to Montgomery?_

The anxiety tugged harder, his mind bent down to hear it as his boss railed on the other end.

“-and don’t even think about-”

_What, what do you need to say?_ He posed as the sensation of a child’s hand lit up his senses, his hand clasped as he listened.

_Why can’t we go to her? Why can’t she stay?_

He blinked away a stray tear as her long brown hair cascaded down her shoulders in his mind. His nose smelled marigolds.

_I don’t, I don’t have time for this! I have a career to worry about, a drug riddled son to manage, another son who despises me-_

“Damnit Dodds! Buck up and get in my office in thirty, NOW!” the other end of the phone screamed at him.

_But you want her! You don’t want to leave! Why are you moving?! Stop...Stay!_

Will stormed away from the building as he shook his jacket in an attempt to dislodge the anxiety, but those smells those fragments of unity flittered around his subconscious as he went back to work.

He went away from her.

His heatr beat faster.

“On my way sir.” he diligently responded as he ended the call and pocketed his phone.

Anxiety rested in his cold, clammy hands.

 

 

_He’s like clockwork._ Sharon thought as she hid behind her large curtains. Several times Will had stared up at her window- right into her soul with his blue eyes locking on to her. The  sensations her body gave her was shocking. she’d feel her frantic energy spike as he looked up at her, those clammy hands on her- her waist, her shoulder, her lips but after hiding and waiting him out, a moment to piece herself back together was ripped from her. She felt the sadness of him leaving again, the space between them nuzzling her chest, preventing good and clean energy from healing her.

_How does he do this?!_

She racked her brain for an answer as her heart began to beat quickly.

_I want to escape but then, I don’t?!_

When she got in a breath, her memory dazzled her with a reel of their odd union. She could feel the rain on her skin from their first actual date, the way he had grinned, branding her with his love.

_But where was mine? Is mine?!_ She declared as she peeked through the window and saw him shove his hands into his pockets and briskly walk away. Her hands raked through her hair, her heart pounding faster in her chest as she took her fists and repeatedly smacked her thighs with them.

“No, he will just disappoint you again and again and again!!” she screamed as she felt the rain on her face and his hand cupping her cheek. She began to take in short breaths between her teeth.

_It wasn’t love, it was conquest and I didn’t know any better!!_ Her mind hollered as she wiped her face.

“That’s it, I’m meditating!” she exclaimed to her empty living room as she plopped to the floor and closed her eyes.

_That’s right, begone foul male energy! Allow the reclaiming of my absolute feminine self to begin!_

Her mind ceased to churn as Sharon allowed a total fullness of tranquility to drape over her. Her heart rate slowed down as she shoved aside the images in her soul, but yet those eyes stayed. She rubbed her hands together, now damp like his and she groaned as her past demanded reflection. 

 

_The park had been rained out, but Will stood by his promise to help her find a hazelnut for her Biology project. Hours they had spent searching for one, but they were empty handed. Thunder clapped in the sky and she had jumped which made him laugh a bit._

_“What’s your deal with my fear?!” she hotly ordered him to answer her. His sheepish boy grin played on his face as he replied._

_“You jump when you’re afraid, like my cat. Oh, wait! there’s one!” he dropped to the ground and snatched up the hazelnut, then jokingly presented it to her on his palm._

_“My lady.” he teased._

_She laughed and took it from him and put it in her purse._

_“Thanks, so I’ll be seeing you—oh!”_

_Her statement cut apart by a large boom of thunder. She jumped into his arms as the rain picked up and drenched them. He took off his army jacket and she felt the weight of it on her shoulders as his eyes displayed actual concern._

_“You okay?”_

_Her heart leapt from the sincerity of the question._

_So you can care? Your military family didn’t get it out of your soul, huh? Her mind sassed as his hand cupped her face._

_“Sharon...” her ears relished in hearing his voice say her name._

_“Wil--”_

_Her reply was met with a soft, kind kiss that staked her in place._

 

“NO!” Sharon shouted as she opened her eyes, fists tight and white knuckled with anger.

“You don’t get to do that! You don’t get to make him the good guy! I left him mother earth, I ran away to find you and me! Stop making me love him--”

A euphoric sensation of her love for Will coursed through her mind as she went rigid with clarity and insight.

“No...please just let me be, I don’t want---”

Her soul finished the statement and she whimpered, alone and shaking on the floor

_I don’t want to be alone._

 

 

 

His eyes searched for sight of her and after a few moments he looked away.

_Why am I doing this?_

_Because she’s up there, she’s waiting for you._

“No she isn’t...” he answered the anxiety who sat down next to where he was standing. it’s arms crossed just like Matt had done when he was pouting as a kid. It’s persistence was identical to Mike’s.

_It’s just going to be another day of--_

His phone rang

“Not now...c’mon!” he bitched as he brandished it and gruffly answered it.

“Chief Dodds, go!”

It was silent on the other end of the line.

_Who in the hell prank phone calls me on my work phone?!_ He fumed as he heard a noise on the other end.

It was an exhale. Her exhale.

“Will?”

His throat closed up.

_Speak to her! C’mon do it!_ The anxiety stomped next to him

_“W-will?”_

His reply felt out of him, “S-sharon? That you?”

“Yes, good to hear from you...”

His heart beat felt joyous, happy to hear the sound of her voice. Will looked up at her window and saw her looking at him. The anxiety shushed next to him, barely making a peep.

“Yes, yes it is...you, you um...doing okay?” the last part of his sentence crumbled as the anxiety stared at him with her eyes and dissipated into thin air; small pieces of worry and regret that were given flight from the mere loving gaze from her hazel eyes.

He heard her sniffle.

“Yeah...I guess...so, Will, will you-”

“-I’m on my way up.” he ended the call and she buzzed him into her building.

 

 

There were little words exchanged between the estranged pair, as if their souls quickly recovered the ability to communicate through non traditional means. She saw the youth in his eyes, felt it in his touch as he sat next to her on her couch. He could smell marigolds around her as her eyes sparked with a joyfulness he couldn’t recollect seeing last.

“So...about what happened in the garden-” he mustered up the courage to get out.

Her hands took one of his and she held it against her face.

“If we want us, which, we both do, lets just start by enjoying us here in this moment. We have tomorrow and the rest of our lives to enjoy working through the nightmare of our confusing love.”

“You’re right...Sharon...” he felt himself biting his lip to contain his feelings but she moved closer and let go of his hand and hugged him tightly. His arms felt made just to hold her as she kissed the side of his forehead.

“I was such an ass to Mike and Quin, they actually had the guts to toss me out of their place...Sharon, what if I can’t fix this? What if they hate me forever?”

“Will, I’ve known you for forty years and thirty nine of them were spent in a state of constant perplexity over who the hell you were...we’ll fix this.”

“No, I’ve gotta do this alone, I can’t drag-” he paused as Sharon gave him a look, “Okay..we’ll do it together...I should have you guys over to my place.”

Sharon’s eyes brightened as she held him closer.

“Don’t leave me and I won’t leave you.”

He let out a sigh and looked up at her, “I won’t...this time you aren’t going to leave.”

“I never wanted reason to go, and we’ll make mistakes but if we’re really thinking about reconnecting...we have to see that we’re not the best at relationships.”

“I know, I know...just...let me have marigolds and let me have you, okay?”

Her hand went into the pocket of her skirt and she pulled out the hazelnut and rested it on her hand.

“My Lord?”

Will grinned at her and then kissed her tenderly. Sharon looked him in the eyes.

“You kept that after all these years?”

Sharon nodded her head, “It’s been everywhere I went, as much as I hate to admit it, I couldn’t completely leave you, I had to have some little piece of you to remind me that I was looking for that missing part of me...just took me 40 years to realize that it was you.”

A sob broke from his chest and buried itself into her hair as Sharon held him, gently stroking the back of his head. Soon her own tears freely flowed as regrets and worry waifed away and they were filled with inner peace and love.

Nothing had to be spoken because it was already laid out around them.

Their past, present, and future life.

Together.


End file.
